Kim K.'s Hairstyle Is Not A "Bobby Pin Headband"

Kim Kardashian's Hairstyle Is Not A "Bobby Pin Headband"

Let me start by saying that nothing that the Kardashian-Jenner family does really surprises me anymore, but I can admit that I was a little bit stirred when Kim Kardashian's glam squad posted her latest hairstyle a few days ago. It was one that a few Internet sites were quick to cover. They called it "high fashion," "edgy," and "pretty" — and one even named it a "bobby pin headband." Let's make one thing clear: that's a doobie wrap.

For anyone who doesn't know what it is, or the culture that it originates in, I am happy to break it down. A doobie wrap is a protective style popular in the Caribbean and is worn to help maintain a blowout on textured or curly hair — and until this generation, it wasn't something you stepped out of the house wearing.

A post shared by Hairstylist (@chrisappleton1) on Mar 25, 2017 at 8:54pm PDT

Photo: Via @chrisappleton1.

I think I was around 6-years-old when I discovered what a doobie wrap was. I thought the pinned-up beehives were actual hairstyles because some of my cousins would come to church with their wraps still intact. My mom, who's a shade queen, went on to tell me that walking out of the house with your wrap was a big no-no, similar to leaving in curlers or a shower cap. The smooth blowouts the look protected was the real style, she would say. I still thought they still looked cool — or maybe I just thought anything my cousins did was cool? — and couldn't wait to get my first one, which finally happened a few years later after my first professional blow out.

Of course, things change. Rihanna and LaLa Anthony obviously didn't get my mom's memo, but I'm glad that they missed it. In 2013, Barbados-born Rihanna accepted her AMI Icon award in an old-school doobie, with pearl-studded pins nonetheless. And LaLa repped her Puerto Rican roots with her bobby-pinned bang in January, captioning the image with "los doobies siempre hacen el trabajo," or "doobies always get the job done" in English.

Now, I'm not totally certain if Kim's hairstylist was necessarily going for a doobie on purpose, especially because she had a low bun in the back. But you can't deny the similarities.

So what's the problem? Like all cultural appropriation issues, it's about giving credit where credit is due. In fact, one Instagram commenter put it perfectly, so I don't have to: "I do this every night when I want to wrap or put bumps in my hair," they said. "Ain't none of them females start no trend."